Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and the Bad-Ass Mage

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Casting spells won't keep you from beating people to death.

By Hilary Goldstein

Warriors get in close and beat the crap out of skeletons, zombies, and demons. Wizards stay back and spam fireballs and other spells. This is the natural state of fantasy RPGs. There's always a sacrifice choosing one over the other. Either you lose the visceral elements of hacking and slashing or you lose out on cool-looking spell effects . The 2012 RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning destroys this old notion. You can be both. This game has the bad-ass mage.

Dual-wielding razor-edged throwing discs, called Chakram, the mage can be a force in combat even without the benefit of his spells. The combat is simple button presses with a system similar to Fable -- with a button dedicated to melee, one for ranged attacked and one for spells. While the mage's staff may not cleave enemies in half like a sword, it can have similar attack chains. The mage lacks a true warrior's strength, but not his skill at putting the beat-down on enemies.

And, like any character in Reckoning, the mage has access to fate-shift kills. These special finishing moves are rewards for effective use of combos and lead to brutal, cinematic kills of enemies. These end with a simple button mash to finish off an enemy, but fate-shift kills give that sense of combat superiority over an enemy. An odd feeling, for sure, for a mage in an RPG.

Rather than a roll-dodge, the mage teleports short distances. In skilled hands, this is an impressive tool to get in close, dodge a stream of attacks, unleash a devastating combo with the staff, leap backwards and throw the Frisbee-like Chakram to slice into an enemy before tossing a fireball to finish the group off.

A mage is all about spells -- at least that's the expectation -- and there seem to be plenty in Reckoning to play with. A detonation spell seems quite effective. You tag multiple enemies, then choose when the spell "explodes" them. This adds more strategy to magic than I'm used to seeing. And then there's the big daddy spell -- the meteor strike. Just as it sounds, this rains down hell. This one's at the top of the spell tree, so you'll have to work to acquire it. And when it's used, be sure you have some distance from the strike point, because it's easy to get caught in the massive blast.

Now consider being able to mix this in with weapons such as the Chakram or a staff that is almost as effective as a sword and it's easy to see how mage combat in Reckoning could be very special.

The beauty is the way each element of combat chains together. Going from one to the next looks fluid and opens up the possibilities for tackling a group of enemies. Mages no longer have to hang to the outside, backing away at an enemy's approach. Though you may have some AI-controlled allies along the way, Reckoning has you largely on your own. Now you don't have to lose having an awesome hand-to-hand combat experience for the sake of being a spellcaster.

This is largely made possible thanks to Reckoning's player progression system. There isn't a point in Reckoning where you pick a class and are stuck along a particular way of leveling up. Instead, Reckoning has a series of "destinies" which players invest experience points into. As you pump in experience to the mage destiny, you unlock new spells and skills. But at any point, you can start investing in the warrior destiny. In this way, you can create different hybrid classes that suit your gaming style.

In truth, there shouldn't be many pure mages in Reckoning. Instead, most people will create interesting amalgams of traditional roles -- a heap of the mage spells here, a dose of warrior might there, and a dash of rogue stealth to top it off. Even if you do stick strictly to the mage path, you will have skill enough to utilize your non-spell aspects and mix it up with enemies. But I find the possibilities of melding these different skillsets into my own unique character the most exciting prospect of Reckoning.